World Cup: Bobadilla to treat injury in Paraguay, out for São Paulo | OneFootball

Coach Dorival Júnior’s appeal for São Paulo’s medical department to clear injured players as soon as possible (especially Marcos Antônio) was not for nothing.

Defensive midfielder Bobadilla is not expected to play for Tricolor again until the break for the World Cup is over. In fact, he has reportedly already traveled to join up with the Paraguay national team, which will go to the World Cup, and has begun preparations.

However, the midfielder, who had been one of coach Gustavo Alfaro’s main players in the South American side, has reportedly still not been cleared to train because of a blow to the knee he suffered during Friday’s training session (22). São Paulo has not released any information about Bobadilla or his medical condition. In theory, he missed the draw with Botafogo over the weekend because he was suspended after receiving his third yellow card.

Paraguay’s national team medical department is expected to monitor the player’s recovery, but at first glance he would not be a concern for the World Cup, although it is still unclear when he will be able to begin training with his teammates.

Bobadilla is still not guaranteed a place on the list of 26 players who will travel to North America, as it will only be announced next Monday (6/1).

For now, he is only part of the 55-man preliminary squad, as is goalkeeper Carlos Coronel, who, however, appears to have a slimmer chance.

For Tricolor, not having Bobadilla available right now has become a problem. He will also be unavailable against Boston River this Tuesday (26) and Remo next Sunday (31), the team’s last match before the break, although he was already expected to miss that one because of his national team preparations.

For his role as one half of the two-man defensive midfield pairing, Dorival has Danielzinho, Pablo Maia and Luan, in addition to the little-used Negrucci and Hugo Leonardo. The first two were used in the last match and seem to be the favorites to remain the starters in that area.

Another question is whether Bobadilla has already played his last game in the Tricolor shirt, in the draw with Millonarios six days ago. With the exposure he could get at the World Cup and São Paulo’s need to sell players, he seems a very likely target for foreign clubs in the mid-year transfer window. In its 2026 budget, the board projected revenue of 180.6 million reais from player transfers, which would probably make a good offer from abroad for the Paraguayan almost impossible to turn down.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.